I’m a bit of a nostalgic guy. I have a KISS pinball machine, collect all the old magazines on Ebay that my mom threw away (16, Hit Parader, Some SI, Circus, Sporting News, old Red Sox game programs, etc.). Many times at night, as a way of relaxing and falling asleep (see a previous blog, where I implored The Nation for sleep tips for insomnia) I replay certain parts of my life, in as much detail as I can muster (no, not JUST those parts, perverts).
Yesterday at the Avs’ practice facility, I took a look at the 1995-96 team picture, with a Stanley Cup sitting in the foreground. And, I started getting nostalgic and remembering what, are now, old times.
So, for those in Avs Blog Nation who care and want to revisit some of those memories with me, here are some off-the-top-of-my-head, inside moments from those early days:

-Mike Keane coming through the aisle of the team plane always yelling, for some reason, “Hot coffee here, hot coffee.”

– Mike Ricci making fun of Avs media relations man Jean Martineau for a preseason game hotel in Fresno, Calif. “Nice hotel Jeanny”, Ricci yelled from the back of the bus, in a French accent.

– Claude Lemieux always saying “Run it” to the bus driver as the light changed from yellow to red.

– Marty McSorley of the Sharks looking at a pair of pants I had on one day and saying with a sad shake of his head, “Bad pants, man.” The pants were purple, hence my nickname for a while with the Avs, “Barney.”

– Patrick Roy saying he wanted a glass of “Lee-mo-nad” from a waiter at a Florida hotel his first year with the Avs.

– Somebody putting shaving cream all over my head after I fell asleep on the team plane back from Sweden, right after 9/11.

– The first time I covered a game at the old Montreal Forum. It just smelled like hockey in there. And they had the greatest hot dogs in NHL history.

– Chris Simon calling Warren Rychel “fat Bundy” after a contentious practice one day, at the old barn at the University of Denver. Bundy was Rychel’s nickname.

– Marc Crawford rightfully chewing me out for calling him at home on Christmas day, asking about a minor injury to Scott Young.

– Troy Murray chewing me out one day in Tampa for a headline to a story of mine in the Hockey News (reporters don’t write the headlines).

– Me getting lost in the Watts section of Los Angeles one night in my rental car.

– Getting a tour of Patrick Roy’s house one day after he first was traded to the Avs, and being amazed at the size of his TV (this was 1995).

– Playing basketball with some Avs players in a Dallas hotel gym, and thinking “don’t quit your day jobs, guys.”

– Sitting, wide-eyed, listening to Jari Kurri tell stories of playing on the same line with Wayne Gretzky.

– Being absolutely amazed at the size of Ray Bourque’s thighs.

– The day in Winnipeg when the team plane needed some work and, after a game to fill the time, sitting with the entire team at a great dinner at the Canadian steakhouse chain Hy’s and marveling at how fast Adam Deadmarsh could put away a thick piece of steak.

– Watching Deadmarsh and Peter Forsberg play ping-pong together in the game room of the Long Island Marriott.

– Always taking grief from Chris Drury about how his Yankees always beat the Red Sox in the end (times have changed Chris!).

– The time in New Hampsire when, the day before Ray Bourque played his first game back in Boston as an Av, flipping over my rental car on an icy road, tumbling down an embankment and landing upside down in deep snow, and having to tunnel my way out from the window.
Then, of getting my car towed to a salvage yard employed by people straight out of “Deliverance” and thinking, “Will I be luckier to have survived this car accident or getting out of this salvage yard alive?”

– Valeri Kamensky’s son nearly breaking my ankle swinging a stick in the locker room after practice one day.

– Patrick Roy laughing hysterically when I asked if he ever kept in touch with former Montreal goalie Jacques Plante (Plante hadn’t been one of the living for several years by that point).

– Pierre Lacroix waking me up in an Edmonton hotel room one morning at about 5:30 to comment on an article I’d written (no, it wasn’t “Nice job”).

– Me having a beer with Ray Bourque the night he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Toronto and thinking, “I’m having a beer with Ray Bourque on the night he went into the Hall of Fame” and not thinking it was real.

What about that Cup game against Florida at the the old Big Mac, when we thought you were having a nervous breakdown because you couldn’t write a lead?

Mike Chambers

What about that Cup game against Florida at the the old Big Mac, when we thought you were having a nervous breakdown because you couldn’t write a lead?

John G.

This is one of your best blog entries to date. It’s always exciting to get an inside perspective from a long-time beat writer.

Keep up the good work, Adrian.

John G.

This is one of your best blog entries to date. It’s always exciting to get an inside perspective from a long-time beat writer.

Keep up the good work, Adrian.

steve-Fort Wayne,IN

Awesome blog entry Adrian! You are truly a lucky guy! I am jealous of your experiences…except for the Deliverance one!! Take care.

steve-Fort Wayne,IN

Awesome blog entry Adrian! You are truly a lucky guy! I am jealous of your experiences…except for the Deliverance one!! Take care.

GTY

I’m nostolgic too! That’s why I am so worried. It looks like Coach Q has put together another team of talented skaters with no grit and short on heart. Two terrible road losses, do you think that Adam Foote would have stood for it, how about Mario Lemiux? Adam Deadmarsh? Mike Keane? Mike Ricci? Even Danny Hinote. Who’s going to step up now that Ian’s out…one thing, I never realized what he meant to this team. With him out this team seems to be skating around without an on ice leader. Playing scared not willing to take a hit…or give one.

I question the leadership behing the bench too…not Sakic’s, but Coach Joe, what’s he really done since he’s been here? What did he do at St Louis? I know he won the Presidents Trophy, but has he ever gotten a team deep in the play off?. Please bring back Pierre, the Av’s have two back up goalies who couldn’t stop a bean bag.

Why aren’t the stands filled? They are filled in Anaheim and San Jose. There not filled in Denver because the Av’s are easy to play against. No hard board work, no big hits, no messages sent and I’ll say it… no fights to get the team going, character sells tickets, not excuses. Do you think it a coincedence that the stands were filled when Crawford and Hartley were leading the efforts…give Hartley a call, the stands would fill up over night…Geez I wish for the old days!

GTY

I’m nostolgic too! That’s why I am so worried. It looks like Coach Q has put together another team of talented skaters with no grit and short on heart. Two terrible road losses, do you think that Adam Foote would have stood for it, how about Mario Lemiux? Adam Deadmarsh? Mike Keane? Mike Ricci? Even Danny Hinote. Who’s going to step up now that Ian’s out…one thing, I never realized what he meant to this team. With him out this team seems to be skating around without an on ice leader. Playing scared not willing to take a hit…or give one.

I question the leadership behing the bench too…not Sakic’s, but Coach Joe, what’s he really done since he’s been here? What did he do at St Louis? I know he won the Presidents Trophy, but has he ever gotten a team deep in the play off?. Please bring back Pierre, the Av’s have two back up goalies who couldn’t stop a bean bag.

Why aren’t the stands filled? They are filled in Anaheim and San Jose. There not filled in Denver because the Av’s are easy to play against. No hard board work, no big hits, no messages sent and I’ll say it… no fights to get the team going, character sells tickets, not excuses. Do you think it a coincedence that the stands were filled when Crawford and Hartley were leading the efforts…give Hartley a call, the stands would fill up over night…Geez I wish for the old days!

Craig in Canada

here’s my solution…package a goalie (take either of them for pete sakes, please get rid of one..) and Liles as he’ll want big $$, plus we have Cumisky. we need a shot from the point on the pp becuase our “downlow” play is as predictable as yesterday’s news. when this happens, let smitty do what he does best in front of the net, he’s not a playmaker from behind the net coach Q…

Craig in Canada

here’s my solution…package a goalie (take either of them for pete sakes, please get rid of one..) and Liles as he’ll want big $$, plus we have Cumisky. we need a shot from the point on the pp becuase our “downlow” play is as predictable as yesterday’s news. when this happens, let smitty do what he does best in front of the net, he’s not a playmaker from behind the net coach Q…

GTY

I’m pretty much in agreement with you Craig. Point shot is missing big time, Liles and Cumisky are cut from the same mold, we havn’t had a chance to see Leopold from the point and I am not optimistic we ever will (another Theodore??).

The D hasn’t shown much courage this year and teams are now playing the Av’s tight along the boards and behind the net knowing they won’t bring the puck out. Coach Q was simply out coached by Dallas and Minnesota and he has a team that is easy to play against. How difficult is it to forecheck the Av’s top 3 lines if you know exactly where they will be th eentire game?

And speaking of the point, how terrible can the power play get. There better be a sense of urgency, or it’s going to be a repeat of 2006, fighting for the last playoff spot.

GTY

I’m pretty much in agreement with you Craig. Point shot is missing big time, Liles and Cumisky are cut from the same mold, we havn’t had a chance to see Leopold from the point and I am not optimistic we ever will (another Theodore??).

The D hasn’t shown much courage this year and teams are now playing the Av’s tight along the boards and behind the net knowing they won’t bring the puck out. Coach Q was simply out coached by Dallas and Minnesota and he has a team that is easy to play against. How difficult is it to forecheck the Av’s top 3 lines if you know exactly where they will be th eentire game?

And speaking of the point, how terrible can the power play get. There better be a sense of urgency, or it’s going to be a repeat of 2006, fighting for the last playoff spot.

Mike Winters

The Av’s are NOT bringing players up that are like Deadmarsh, Drury, Morris, Simon, Odgers, Parker, Keane, Ricci, Eric Messier, Hinote et.al All these guys play(ed) HARD. One exception is Cody McCormick. The Av’s will not be successful until they can produce a line of say Hejduk, Deadmarsh and Parker. Give the Parkers the opportunity and make him earn his pay with some finesse play to go with his physical presence. Most of the above mentioned are/were handy at the whole game.

Mike Winters

The Av’s are NOT bringing players up that are like Deadmarsh, Drury, Morris, Simon, Odgers, Parker, Keane, Ricci, Eric Messier, Hinote et.al All these guys play(ed) HARD. One exception is Cody McCormick. The Av’s will not be successful until they can produce a line of say Hejduk, Deadmarsh and Parker. Give the Parkers the opportunity and make him earn his pay with some finesse play to go with his physical presence. Most of the above mentioned are/were handy at the whole game.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.